The Gym, Friday afternoon [3/13]

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

Hoshi was exceptionally cranky today after Jack had decided to poke at some of her issues yesterday. By afternoon, she decided that sitting around her room and working on translations wasn't helping her mood as usual. So her next move was the gym to do some yoga postures with the hopes that they would clear her mind. If that didn't work, she was going to try the punching bag.

[Open for all your gym needs!]

Comments

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah came in to use the weights, still working on building up her strength for the sword-work. "Hey, Hoshi. How's it going?"

She put down her gym bag and started to stretch, touching her toes and arching out her back.

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"Hey Dinah! I'm okay," said Hoshi, looking a bit more subdued than usual. "How about you?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Weird, weird, weird week." Dinah flashed her a grin as she stood up. "Mostly okay, though." Because this week has given her enough issues to start a newspaper stand, but there wasn't much she could do about it except work out to cut the stress. "Did you see those monsters on Wednesday? Uuuuugh."

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"Oh, they looked awful! I feel bad about it, but I just stayed inside to avoid them," said Hoshi, moving from one seated pose to the next. "I figured I'd be more useful if I didn't get carried off and had to be rescued."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I got caught out there. The Fandom police got me to shelter, and then, well. We ended up fighting them on the roof of Groovy Tunes. At least there were lots of people and weapons there." Dinah shook her head. "You were smart. God those things were nasty."

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"I heard about the fighting on the roof at Groovy Tunes. Wish I had been able to help out more, but..." Hoshi shrugged as she trailed off. "Like I said, I'm not sure I would have been much help. I'm not the strongest fighter."

Add "self-confidence" to the list of Hoshi's issues.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Are you in Fight Club?" Dinah moved over to the weights, and settled into the leg-press. "I mean, if you want to get better, that's one way." She peered over at Hoshi. "Unless it's just not your thing." She gave her a smile. "Some people just attacked with brooms and scrubbing spells. But it was still pretty intense."

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"I heard about the Fight Club, but I didn't go last week. Maybe I should think about it, though," said Hoshi. "I know some martial arts and self-defense moves, but it's one thing to practice on your own and a totally different experience going up against a real opponent."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Seriously," Dinah agreed, moving the weights inward, then checking on Hoshi. "Do you want to try and spar, after I get done with my weights work-out? We can just keep it slow, if you're not sure."

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"That would be great," said Hoshi, a genuine smile on her face. "I could probably use a sparring session. Yoga just doesn't seem to be doing it for me today."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Cool! Give me just a half-hour here, I need to do enough reps." Dinah grinned over at her. "I've only been studying a year. Tae Kwan Do, mostly."

About half an hour later she was finished, and got up from the machines, doing a nice long stretch. "Okay. You ready? I can put on some sparring gloves, if you're used to that."

[and I disappear for 2 hours-- back when I get back!]

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"Gloves would be fine," said Hoshi, finishing up her stretches. "I studied aikido back home in Japan, but it was pretty on and off. My parents felt I should focus more on academics."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah tossed her an extra pair, and put on her own. "So what are you fave subjects, then?"

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"Linguistics and math. I seem to have a talent for finding repeating patterns, like common language forms and numberical sequences," said Hoshi, putting on her gloves. "Here in Fandom, I've taken classes on communication and physics, but I've also taken some fun classes like home ec."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Gotcha." Dinah nodded, kind of impressed, and translating it in her head to, 'Barbara would like to chat with her.' "No Home Ec yet. Although Liir did show me how to make a good stir-fry. Reminds me that I have to go find him and Amber and talk escapology again." She tapped her fists together. "Ready when you are!"

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"I love to cook. My grandmother insisted that I learn to cook the old-fashioned," said Hoshi, starting out with a basic jab. She had good form but her punches were a little weak.

"Liir's a pretty good cook, too. He helped me out when I put together a bake sale to raise money for the theater last semester."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Hunh. He turned into brownies once, you know. Do you think being a good cook is why?" Dinah, on the other hand, blocked fast and hard, then backed off a bit to assess Hoshi's form. Not as strong as most of the people she'd been facing off with lately. Still, going easy on her would be insulting, so... Dinah sidekicked fast, aiming for Hoshi's upper leg.

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"In this place, who knows? There was one time where we all started to taste like food, and I was some kind of fruit salad," said Hoshi.

She had been watching Dinah's hands, and the kick caught her off-guard, knocking her to the mat. "Ooph! Nice shot."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Thanks!" Dinah said, pleased, then backing off a bit. "Taste like food. Okay, that's up there as random." She shook her head, circling Hoshi, and now waiting for her to make her move.

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"It was random, alright. Like people needed an excuse to go around licking each other. I was really surprised that there weren't more hook-ups coming out of that," said Hoshi, getting back on her feet. Finding her balance, she dropped back into a defensive stance and came at Dinah with an uppercut.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah blocked it, ow, and reversed it into another punch, then a feint left, punch right.

No more talking. She grinned.

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

Hoshi blocked the first punch, but winced as the second one got her. She was finally starting to get into a rhythm as well as push yesterday's conversation with Jack out of her mind.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah checked herself, circling again, and then grinned. "Holding up okay?"

Kick!

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"Oh yeah. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it," said Hoshi, smiling. This time, she saw the kick coming and did a forward roll, one of her better evasive aikido moves.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Cool!" Dinah grinned, and spun to watch her. "You have to show me how you do that!"

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"Thanks!" said Hoshi with a grin of her own. "It's called a forward roll. There's a philosophy of non-violence behind aikido, so there's a lot of defensive moves. They teach you how to get out before they teach you how to do any damage. I'd be happy to show you how it's done."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah made a time-out motion with her hands, and put her hands on her hip, grinning. "Go for it."

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"You want to make sure you have someone to spot you the first couple times," said Hoshi, dropping back into her stance. "Your body lines up like this, tuck your head in so you don't roll on your neck, then slowly rotate forward until you lose your balance," she said, demonstrate the roll move.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah started, stopped when she realized her feet were planted wront, then re-started, doing it clumsily, but managing it all the same. "Ha! Wait, wait, I want to try that again."

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"It takes lots of practice," said Hoshi, smiling. "Here, you'll want to start with your left foot in front, like this," she said, demonstrating the stance again.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah copied it right this time, took a breath, tucked her head, and did the forward roll. "Yes!"

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"Good job!" said Hoshi. "Want to see a backwards roll next?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Yes!" Dinah bounced up on her toes, then came back down. "Please?"

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

Hoshi giggled. "It's pretty much the same, except you line up in the opposite direction and reverse your stance. The hard part is that it's easier to get disoriented when you can't see out the back of your head," she said, demonstrating the move at half-speed.